January 06, 2014

Lagunitas Creek -- flowing with rapid abandon

click photo for full-size imagephoto by Donald Kinney

Still no rain, but our Marin Municipal Water District knows how to follow the rules to-the-letter-of-the-law, and the requirements are----this time of year the normally gentle and bucolic creek needs to be flowing at a rapid rate.

click photo for full-size imagephoto by Donald Kinney

It is all in aid of the endangered Coho Salmon, and due to the many coastal improvements-of-man, the Lagunitas is one of the last remaining places where these fish can still spawn.

But the fact remains----after spending 2 years at sea, the Coho Salmon won't begin their return to their birthplace until after a large, gushing, and torrential rain--which we would be having right now if our weather held to normal patterns. It might be a while before we see rain.

2 comments:

Beautiful shot of the coho! I saw them spawn way up in the back of Muir Woods one year; this year the creek doesn't even reach the ocean. I wonder how long they wait, and what they do if they're ready to spawn but they can't get up the creek.